Movie Review--Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story

This was just a touching story. It's a tearjerker in spots and a great family movie. Kurt Russell plays a horse trainer, Ben Crane. His daughter, Cale (Dakota Fanning) loves horses. She accompanies her father to work one day when one of his favorite horses, Sonador (Spanish for Dreamer), breaks her leg during a race. The breeder, Ben's boss, wants the animal to be put down immediately, but Cale is there watching, and Ben argues with his boss and manages to save Sonador's life. He also manages to get fired, but he takes Sonador with him. He figures that he can nurse Sonador back to health, and though she'll never race again, he could breed her and sell the colt for a lot of money. And Cale is delighted to have the horse with them, the only horse on what was once a large horse farm. There is only one problem with Ben's plan: the horse is infertile.

Faced with financial ruin, Ben tells his wife that he would have let the vet put Sonador down the day she broke her leg if Cale hadn't been there that day and he'd still have his job. Cale overhears and plans to run away with the horse (a bold plan, to be sure). She gets on the horse, who gets spooked when Ben's truck pulls up. The horse runs out of open gate with Cale, who can't get her to stop. Ben manages to drive up alongside them, gets out of the truck, and gets Cale to jump off of the horse and into his arms. It was then that they realized the horse could run, and run fast. So they start training her to race again.

As one can surmise from the title, this is based on a true story. I read online (on the MSN movie info; the synopsis is by Mark Deming) that it's based on the story of Mariah's Storm, a horse who broke her leg in 1993, but who made an incredible comeback. In 1994 she won the Arlington Heights Oaks, and in 1995 won the Turfway Breeder's Cup.